Graphics, sound and controls

Open Settings

Click Settings in the launcher's sidebar. The window has the window, graphics, emulation and audio options on the left and the controls on the right. PSPC saves your choices to pspc.ini next to pspc.exe, and a game reads them when it starts: change settings before you start a game, or restart the game to apply them.

On Linux source builds, the GTK launcher's Settings / Input button has the same options, with OpenGL as the GPU renderer. v0.1.2 includes the Linux source but no prebuilt Linux download: see PSPC on Linux.

Window

Scale

The window's size, from 1× (480×272, the PSP's screen) to 4× (1920×1088). The default is 2×. You can also drag the window to any size.

Start in fullscreen (F11 toggles)

Starts games in borderless fullscreen. F11 switches at any time while playing; leaving fullscreen restores the window's size.

Vertical sync

On by default: frames are shown in step with your display, which avoids tearing.

Graphics

Renderer

Software (accurate), the default, or Direct3D 11 (GPU). See Choosing a renderer.

Resolution

How many pixels the GPU renderer draws, as a multiple of the PSP's 480×272. Above your window's size, the picture is averaged down to it (supersampling), which smooths edges.

Texture filter

As the game sets it (the default), Nearest (sharp) or Linear (smooth), forced for every texture.

Texture upscaling

Off, or 2x, 3x or 4x (xBR): textures are enlarged with the xBR algorithm, so they show smooth edges instead of blocky texels at high resolutions.

Resolution, texture filter and upscaling apply to the GPU renderer only; they are greyed out while Software is selected. The resolutions on offer:

Choosing a renderer

Software (accurate)

PSPC's multithreaded software renderer is the reference for how a frame should look, and every other renderer is checked against it. It draws at the PSP's 480×272, scaled up to your window. Use it when something looks wrong on the GPU.

Direct3D 11 (Windows)

Draws on your graphics card, at 1× to 16×, with texture filtering and upscaling. It needs a graphics card and driver with Direct3D 11.3 rasterizer-ordered views; without them, PSPC notes it in its log and uses the software renderer. Transform, lighting and clipping also run on the GPU, in the PSP graphics chip's exact arithmetic, bit for bit as on the CPU.

OpenGL (Linux source builds)

The Linux GPU renderer, with the same resolutions, texture options and bit-exact GPU transform. It needs OpenGL 4.5 with the fragment shader interlock extension; on drivers without it, PSPC says so and uses the software renderer.

v0.1.2 reduces high-resolution texture sampling costs and excessive Direct3D 11 readbacks in the Syphon Filter games. Save/load lists and the HOME menu are composited only when they change. xBR also fixes black edges on textures drawn without their alpha channel.

Emulation

Use native code (AOT) when it is built

On by default. Clear it to run every game in the interpreter: see Native code and the interpreter.

Firmware version

The PSP system software version PSPC tells games it is, 6.60 by default. Some games check for a minimum version before they start; the default satisfies every game tested so far. It doesn't change what PSPC runs, which is always its 4.01 M33 system, nor which firmware files it uses.

Audio

Volume sets the game's volume from 0 to 100%, and Mute silences it.

Controls

The Controls list shows each PSP input with its keyboard key and controller button.

• Change a key: click an entry, then press the key to use for it. F11 and F12 are reserved for fullscreen and screenshots.
• Change a controller button: select an entry and pick a button from the controller list below it.
• Remove a binding: Clear key. Reset controls to defaults restores everything.

Controllers work through SDL, which recognizes most USB and Bluetooth controllers. By default both sticks drive the PSP's analog stick; pad.stick=left, right or none in pspc.ini changes that. To give one PSP input several keys, list them in pspc.ini: key.select=Space,Right Shift.

Four inputs are buttons games never see: Volume +, Volume −, Note and Screen. Only M33 plugins use them, for example to open a cheat menu: see M33 plugins and cheats.

Default controls

While playing, F11 toggles fullscreen, F12 saves a screenshot to screenshots\<game>_<date>_<time>.bmp in PSPC's folder, and Ctrl+Q quits.

The settings file

Everything above lives in pspc.ini, next to pspc.exe. You can edit it by hand while no game runs. For example, Direct3D 11 at 4K with smoothed textures:

renderer=d3d11
render_scale=8
texture_upscale=2
texture_filter=auto
fullscreen=1

For one run only, override a setting on the command line: pspc.exe --set render_scale=4 Games\MyGame.iso. Every key is listed in Command line and pspc.ini.